Time to catch up

 I can't believe it is almost 6 months since I updated this blog. It has been a busy time with more memories and adventures. These days my photos are few and far between but from time to time it is good to look back and appreciate it all. Most recently we celebrated 48 years of marriage by having a short break in a very affordable holiday cottage in the Barossa Valley. Autumn displayed its glory and I love the old houses......

The month of May is celebrated in our state as History Festival and our local area has events all month..... the Heritage Fleurieu Coast Festival. There was so much to see and do and I was thrilled to be involved. Our local Museum (where Larry and I volunteer), had a historical wedding display and it was quite timely that it was on during our anniversary. I'm not even sure my dress in the first photo on the far right would even fit my thigh these days!!....

We are very lucky to have a wonderful local cafe/art space where you can find us on Saturday mornings having a long slow coffee with locals: Lot 50. Each month a different artist displays their work and it was after a casual conversation that I found myself as guest artist for the month of May! I had already started working on thread sketching historic buildings of the district so I spent several weeks photographing, researching and stitching a lot more, and I am thrilled to say it was a great success! Within a few days there were lots of red dots displayed and I was quite overwhelmed by it all.........

As well as historic buildings I combined stitching with appliqué with local magpies and fish that are found along our coast...........

We needed some walks along the beach to collect pieces to attach to the fish canvases........

An ant and a bee appeared too.......

Some buildings no longer serve their original purpose so I sourced an old image of the side view of the Old Normanville Court House......

 and today that Court House is a cafe so this is the front view...........

I enjoyed the research attached to the buildings and read that this old factory housed the Myponga Milk Co  and exported cheese overseas in the 1930's.........

Many cottages were built when immigrants from the UK and Ireland settled in the mid to late 1800's often housing up to ten children in just two rooms............

And this is Lot 50.......a space to relax over a coffee and home baked cake.....and my stitched version......

We've had two lots of school holidays since my last post and they are always full of memorable moments. In January we stayed in a holiday house nearby and it was great to see the kiddies not on electronic devices..........

Maisie spent time with us and we enjoyed fish and chips one evening..........

Maisie got busy baking and had fun selling them at the Lot 50 Christmas market and she did very well........

The saddest event we experienced from a distance was the devastating Deep Creek National Park Bushfire in February. Yankalilla became "headquarters" and we watched the Agricultural Hall and surrounds turn into a camp for hundreds of firefighters that came from far and wide. 300 meals a day were cooked by volunteers and the constant sound of sirens, helicopters and aerial water bombers shattered the silence for over a week. We felt so helpless not being able to help but instead donated bags of supplies from the supermarket. A few nights before the fire I captured these eerie photos on a hot evening. They were taken about an hour apart.................

These two photos were taken by Country Fire Services and it gives perspective of how far the fire spread........

The water bombers and helicopters landed at our local oval where water tankers were waiting to fill them.....photo taken directly overhead........

The community were encouraged to attend an emergency meeting to make sure we were informed and prepared. The circle is where we live and we felt safe despite the information given us. It was dependent on wind directions and whether the fires would take off through the forest. It has certainly been challenging for many that were directly affected..........

For many days the smoke was evident at our local beach........

During the April school holidays we enjoyed an amazing origami exhibition from Tomoko Fuse. Such incredible creations from folded paper........

Anzac Day is always a time of remembrance especially of my late Dad who served in the Pathfinder Force of Bomber Command during WW2. As a member of Red Cross we place flowers each year. I thought it would be nice to have our own wreath that could be used each year so I created wool felt poppies on a willow wreath. 600 attended the Dawn Service which is astounding considering we come from a small community........

One day we took Wade to visit his great grandfather's memorials and we know he enjoyed placing poppies..........

We didn't enjoy this visitor to the house though! We have delightful magpies living in the enormous gum trees behind our house, and one day I heard one of them screeching in an unusual tone. On inspection I found the magpie had cornered the snake by our front door and later I read that magpies warn humans when snakes are about.....another reason to love our Australian magpies. Interestingly as soon as the magpie knew I was there he flew off...ha....he thought I could handle it all!! This was a Red Bellied Black Snake and they are highly venomous so we had some nervous moments trying to send it on its way!.........

Well this post has taken me most of the day between doing other things! I hope you enjoyed it.....final images are the last of my hydrangeas beside a beautiful piece from New Zealand that we purchased in Taupo from Lynden Over - Lava Glass. I am so glad we bought it all those years ago as a reminder of our time at Huka Falls. The colour is exactly as we remember seeing the intense and loud blue/green frothing waterfalls. How lucky we have been to have traveled to so many wonderful places..........

And just as I was finishing this post I looked back through the blog to work out when we were in Taupo. It was 2012 and I found the photo of the artist holding my piece! Just shows how precious the blog memories can be.......